Promote social-Economic Rights and Justice for women

THEMATIC AREA THREE

Promote social-Economic Rights and Justice for women

Objective:

To promote accountability for the enactment and implementation of legal and policy frameworks for women’s socio-economic justice

FIDA’s work is a response to the social and economic context of Uganda. Whereas Uganda has progressive laws to promote gender empowerment and equality, significant implementation gaps persist. Uganda’s neoliberal development model has led to high economic growth, but with high income inequality. There is also increasing income disparity based on gender, class, region and location. Women empowerment enabled women to participate in economic activities, but many factors work against women while on the road to economic empowerment. These include poor education and early marriages which force women out of school and thus relegate them to low paying jobs. Empowerment also increased burdens on women, with men relegating home maintenance costs to women; and women having to work twice as hard to stay in the work place as well as doing unpaid work at their homes. Women’s labor rights are at risk when it comes to maternity leave in informal employment. In agricultural communities, women’s labor is usually exploited when they are used to grow crops but do not benefit from the harvests. FIDA also observes shifting gender roles, with children increasingly taking household headship due to their orphaned status thus exposing them to exploitative forms of labor.

FIDA’s strategic plan 2015-2020 provides for thematic work on strengthening civic action on socio-economic justice with the following expected outcomes:

Strategic alliances and coalitions mobilized and having a strong voice on women’s rights and socio-economic justice.

Pro-poor and gender-responsive laws and policy frameworks aligned with regional and international commitments, enforced by duty bearers and supported by civic actors to ensure socio-economic justice in the key areas affecting women.